and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. captioning sponsored by macneil/lehrer productions captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org i was sitting there in tears in my living room watching it. we learned the truth about america. ed asner: white actors were willing to break each other's legs to be in the show. i mean, these novels were just the best stuff ever. i do love you, meggie. i always will. and i found myself in the biggest melodrama of all time. the saga of an american family. now, you listen to old fiddler if you wants to keep alive. you in america now. but i think the responsibility of television is to lift up its audience, intellectually, spiritually, and emotionally. is to lift up its audience, intellectually, through programs like this, made available for everyone through contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. seacrest: they captured audiences like nothing before. "rich man, poor man," "roots," "thorn birds." look at the size of those audiences. they poured huge amounts of money